Device for use in erecting bents of ore-docks



N- 625,79*- Patented may 3o,`.|89'9.`V` l` .r. n. mcuuEEN. DEVICE FOBUSE IN EBECTING BENTS 0F DRE DUCKS;

(Application filed Nov. 23, 1897.)

No. 625',79l. .Patente May 30, |899.

F. R. MGUEEN.

DEVICE FUR USE fIN ERECTING' BE-NI'SDF OBE DOCKS.

(Application led ov. 23, 1897.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

me Noms persas co, pHoro-umu., WASHINGTON. q. c.

NiTnD STATES 4PATENT OFFICE.

FINLAY n McoUEEN, OF sUPERioawIsoONsIN, AssIeNOR To THE BARNETT a RECORDCOMPANY, OF MINNEAPOLis, MINNESOTA.

DEVICE FOR USE IN ERECTING BENTS OF ORE-DOCKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part-of Letters Patent No. 625,791, dated May30,1899.

Application led November Z3. 1897. Serial No. 659,561. (No model.)

To all whom it may cm1/cern:

Be it known that I, FINLAY R. MCQUEEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Superior, in the county of Douglas, State of Visconsin, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for'IIserinErecting the Bents of Ore-Docks, dac.; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it pertains tomake and use the same.

My invention has for its object the provision of convenient andlabor-saving devices for use in the erection of the bents or likeportions of docks and other structures; and my improvements consist ofthe novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter fully setforth, and particularly pointed out in the annexed claims.

The improvements are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure l is a perspective view of a part of a dock in process oferection in which the devices of the invention are shown in position foruse in the work of building the dock. Fig. 2 is an end elevation showingthe devices supported in position on the last-completed bent and alsoanother set of devices being lowered to position for use in the erectionof the succeeding bent, and Fig. 3 isa perspective view of the devicesas they would appear from the rear.

The dock illustrated consists of the piles 1, 'the sills L2, theuprights 3, the cap-pieces 4., and the longitudinal stringers 5. Thesills 2 are usually cut away, as shown at 6, to provide seats for theuprights 3, and when the latter have been erected the cap-piece 4 isapplied and fastened in place ,to complete the bent. The several bentswhen thus finished are permanentlyconnected by the stringers 5,extending lengthwise of the dock, and the structure may also be furthertiedand stiffened by braces and struts, if desired. The timbers used insuch structures are necessarily heavy, and large numbers of them arerequired to insure the requisite strength and stiffness of the whole,and the importance and desirability of appliances capable of lesseningthe amount of manual labor required in prosecuting the Work are obvious.

` against the uprights.

Under customary methods of construction, whether the timbers composing abent be iirst secured together and then lifted to place as a whole orthe several pieces are separately lifted to position, much manual laboris required in guiding and holding the members in place until finallysecured.` To the end of dispensing with much ofthe manual labor requiredunder such methods and shortening 6o and cheapening the Work, myimprovements propose the use of devices that are adapted to be advancedfrom bent to bent to hold the uprights of the bent under constructiontemporarily in place while one after another is being raised and untilthey havebeen permanently securedintheir desired places.

In making use of the invention it is deemed preferable that devices ofthe form illustrated in the accompanying drawings be employed, 7o thoughmany other forms of devices of an equivalent character might besubstituted -and the same kind'of beneficial results obtained.

In the devices shown in the drawings two platforms of like structure areemployed, the front edge of each being arranged to serve the purpose ofalining and temporarily supporting the uprights in their respectivepositions of final use. These platforms 7' are supported 8o by pairs ofbrackets that are adapted to be hooked onto the cap-piece of thelast-completed bent to hold the platforms in proper positions for use bythe Workmen until the next bent is completed and then to be advanced oneafter the other as the work prog'resses. The brackets or frames forsupport-- ing the platforms may be formed of vertical posts 8,horizontal arms 9, braces l0, connectig the posts and arms, bars l1,connecting 9o the posts, and suitable hooks l2, fastened to the rear topportions of the posts 8 for hangingthebracketsonthecap-pieces. The hooksare preferably of angular form, as shown, and

of a size to fit conveniently over the cappieces, and thus hold thebrackets snugly The platforms are su pported on the arms 9 of thebrackets and should be of such width thattheir front edges will be inproper line to permit the uprights Ico to be raised to verticalpositions and secured Y temporarily to the platforms. Any convenf of thefastening ropes, chains, or other def ient devices may be used forholding the uprights to the platforms, the devices shown being shortpieces of rope 13 to be passed around the uprights and fastened tocleats 11i on the platforms. Notches may be formed in the front edges ofthe platforms to receive the uprights, if desired, but are not necessaryto the successful use of the devices.

The platforms, together with their brackets or carriers, preferably aremoved bodily forward by means of a crane 15 or equivalent mechanism, andfor this purpose a line 16 is shown as having itsends passed through theplatform and secured to the brackets and an eye 17'at the middleprovided for connecting the block and tackle 18, and thus enabling thedevices to be readily lifted and advanced. It will be found convenientto have the line 16 so connected that the platform will tilt backward,in order that when lowered to the new position the hooks.12 will readilycatch the rear edges of the cap-piece, as indicated in Fig. 2. i y

In putting the devices of the improvement to use it is found desirableto employ two or more such platforms as have been described, whoseaggregate length is equal to the width of the dock, rather than a singleplatform reaching from side to side, so that one platform may be used infinishing one port-ion of a bent, while the other is advanced toposition to receive the uprights for a section of the next bent, asindicated in the drawings. In use a platform being in place in front ofa completed bent uprights are raised one by one by means of the crane'orotherwise to vertical position and lashed fast or held by means Vices 13in proper positions against the front of the platform until the desirednumber are so placed, when the cap-piece is put on and secured. The bentor section of bent is then held from lateral movement, preferably bytemporary stringers 19, or, if desired, by braces (not shown) or otherdevices until the permanent stringers 15 are placed and fastened. Whenthe temporary fastenings have been applied, the platform can be liftedbodily by attaching the rope and tackle of the crane to the eye 17 ofthe line 16 and advanced to engage the last-laid cap-piece and assumeproper position in front of the`ne-W bent.

It is obvious that the horizontal portion of the hook 12 could be madelong enough to span two or more cap-pieces and that the brackets andplatforms could thus, or in any other ways that are well known, be madeto maintain'their proper positions without the use of the exact form ofhooks hereinbefore described, and likewise the structure of the bracketsand the manner of connecting them with each other and with the platformsand the structure and form of the platforms may be changed considerablyWithout varying their functions or modes of operation.

l The crane and the engine and other machinery used in connection withthem are mounted on the dock (or other support) in rear of the portionthat is being erected, and these mechanisms are on movable beds orplatforms 20, so that they may be advanced from time to time as thesuccessive stages of the work may require.

I do not herein seek to claim, broadly, invention of means fortemporarily securing uprights in position by the use of alinementbeamsand carriers and platforms for workmen adapted to be advanced as bentsor portions of building-frames are completed, forI am aware that it haslong been old in the building art to employ such labor-saving devices;that in building grain-elevators under the Spaulding patents, Nos.204,103 and 268,743, it was common as early as 1880 to usealinement-beams having notches to receive the studs and hold themtemporarily in place and to support the alinement-beams on movablecarriers and to use platforms for the workmen when necessary and toadvance such devices from bent to bent as the Work progressed, and thatlike means were employed in the building of large metal coal-sheds; but

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device for use in erecting the bents of docks or otherstructures, the combination with brackets adapted to be detachablysecured at the front of a bent, of a body supported thereby and adaptedto serve to aline the uprights' of the succeeding bent as they areerected, substantially as set forth.

2. In adevice for use in erecting the bents of docks or otherstructures, the combination lwith brackets adapted to be detachablysecured at the front of a bent, of a body supported thereby and adaptedto serve to aline and temporarily support the uprights of the succeedingbent as they are erected, substantially asset forth.

3. In a device for use in erecting the bents of docks and otherstructures,the combination with a completed bent, of brackets detachablysecured thereto, a body supported on the brackets adapted to aline theuprights of the succeeding bent as they are erected, and devicesprovided thereon for holding the uprights in alinement until they areotherwise secured in place, substantially as set forth.

4. In a device for erecting the bents of docks or other structures, thecombination with brackets connected to form a framework and having hooksfor removably suspending them from the cap-piece of a bent, of aplatform supported thereby and adapted to serve both as a foot-board forWorkmen and asa meansv for alining the newly-erected uprights, and meansfor temporarily securing the uprights when so alined, substantially asset forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day ofNovember, 1897. FINLAY R. MCQUEEN. In presence of RICHARD PAUL, C. E.KNIGHT.

